What's New!
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At the start of the new year things are going well and slowly coming together. Airplane wise, the Waco has been stripped down to the airframe in preparation to be rebuilt, the Cub is undergoing it's winter maintenance and my new bi-plane should test fly soon (If you haven't heard about it you soon well). My early schedule is now up on my website (www.franklinairshow.com) I am still in the booking season so more will be added through the next few months. I will start trying to keep you all updated more on how things are going but please try to understand it's just me now, trying to do all the things Amanda and I had a hard enough time keeping up with together. You wouldn't think it, but doing airshows full time without a big sponsor is well....."a hard way to make an easy living" as a friend once said.

Once again, and I can't say it enough, thank you all for your support, love, prayers, and for just being there for Amanda and I. I also want to thank all my sponsors, especially Aircraft Specialties Services and CamGuard, for their support and for sticking by me this past year, as well as my friends Brad, Larry, Skip and everyone at the ICAS Foundation. I can't imagine how things would have been without you all.

I'm looking forward to seeing friends, making new ones and a much better year for myself and the airshow industry as a whole in 2012! See you out there!

Thank You All and God Bless,

Kyle

Kyle Franklin

Collaboration Yields Solution to Reduce Risk of Post-Impact Fires for Air Show Performers.

(Atlanta, GA) January 12, 2012 - Aerobatic pilots Buck Roetman of Wild Horse Aviation, and Mike Stewart, Flight Lead for Team RV, announce an important safety solution for professional air show pilots to reduce the risk of a post-impact fire: an inertia activated shut-off switch installed in the ground wire to fuel and smoke oil pumps. Roetman said the easy installation of this inexpensive switch is an "elegant and simple solution that every performer in the air show industry should consider."

Roetman and Stewart sought this solution in response to the forced landing last March of Kyle and Amanda Franklin in which the smoke oil pump fueled a fire that caused fatal burns to Amanda. In the immediate aftermath of the accident, Roetman, who is an International Council of Air Shows (ICAS) ACE (Aerobatic Competency Evaluation) pilot, and ICAS President John Cudahy informally discussed the need to prevent post-impact fires in cases where fuel tanks are not ruptured.

Initial discussions among several pilots included the merits of various shut-off switches such as a GPS switch, EGT switch, and oil pressure switch. Ultimately, Stewart found and suggested the use of the inertia switch which is used in auto racing and acts like a circuit breaker, but is tripped by high g's (10g or higher) associated with impact.

According to Jim Hillyer at Pegasus Auto Racing Supplies, a top supplier of the switch, the product has been used successfully for years on IndyCars and on high-end production cars with fuel injection systems that engage high pressure fuel pumps.

Concerned about inadvertently tripping the switch, Stewart and Roetman installed the device on their aircraft - Stewart's RV-Super 8 and Roetman's modified Christen Eagle - and tested high g maneuvers as well as hard landings. The switch did not activate under a +8 g load or -5 g load.

Kyle Franklin is installing this equipment in all of his aircraft, and urges every air show and competition pilot to add this or something similar. The g-meter in his Waco stopped at 11g during his hard landing. "This little switch could save you and your loved ones a lifetime of pain and grief. I truly feel if I had this switch on March 12 my beautiful wife Amanda would still be here," said Franklin.

Stewart reported that all 12 pilots on Team RV have installed the light weight switch as part of pre-season aircraft maintenance procedures. "Air show performers keep safety at the forefront always, and when accidents do happen, they happen to friends in this tight community and not simply to 'someone else.' As a result we take it to task to learn as much as possible from incidents and to find ways to improve safety where possible," said Stewart.

Wild Horse Aviation specializes in aircraft acquisition, maintenance, fabrication and export.
Team RV is the world's largest precision formation and formation aerobatics air show team.

Contact:
Mike Stewart: kahuna@teamrv.us - (678) 571-9319
Kari Morris: kmorris@teamrv.us - (512) 538-8500

Kyle and Amanda Injured in Airshow Accident.
(March 13, 2011)
Amanda Succumbs to Injuries.
(May 27, 2011)

Kyle Franklin and Amanda Younkin Franklin, a young husband and wife wingwalking team, were seriously injured following an accident at the Air Fiesta 2011 air show in Brownsville, Texas, on March 12. Both received serious burn injuries when Kyle, who was the pilot of the aircraft, performed a forced/emergency landing following an engine failure in his highly-modified Waco biplane.

The engine failure occurred while Amanda was on the top wing of the aircraft. As Kyle maintained a wings-level attitude to avoid stalling, Amanda was able to climb off the wing and back into the front cockpit of the aircraft seconds before impact. Both were treated at the U.S. Army's Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio, Texas due to burns they received in the post-accident fire. Kyle received second and third degree burns on his arms and face from trying to pull Amanda out of the front cockpit. He spent two weeks in the hospital and underwent skin graft surgeries for the burns on his right arm and hand. Amanda's injuries were much more extensive as over 70% of her body was covered with third degree "full thickness" burns and she received numerous facial fractures.

Amanda fought for 76 days and endured over 30 surgeries before succumbing to her extensive injuries/burns on the night of May 27th, 2011. She was surrounded by her loving husband, Kyle, her mother, Jeanie, her brother, Matt, her sister-in-law, Michelle, and her devoted mother-in-law, Audean.

Amanda’s memorial service was held in Fayetteville, Arkansas at the First Baptist Church on the morning of June 7th, 2011. The amount of people who came to pay their last respects was overwhelming. Amanda touched so many lives and hearts; beyond more than she ever knew. Graveside services were held at the Fairview Memorial Gardens Cemetery, also in Fayetteville. Numerous pilots took to the sky in a mass fly over to pay homage to one of their own.

Amanda will forever be remembered as a young, vivacious, and beautiful woman who was an exemplary role model, not only in the airshow world but also in life. She will be missed every single day by those who knew and loved her. Every time you take to the sky or see a plane overhead, think of Amanda and her memory will live on.

Kyle's father, Jimmy Franklin, and Amanda's father, Bobby Younkin, were both killed on July 10, 2005 when they were involved in a fatal mid-air collision while performing together at the Saskatchewan Centennial Air Show in Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan. Kyle and Amanda, who had known each other since childhood and were dating at the time of their fathers' accident, were married just a few months later in October of 2005. They performed their wingwalking act together from 2009 til 2011.

INTERNATIONAL COUNCIL OF AIR SHOWS FOUNDATION
www.icasfoundation.org and specify the Kyle & Amanda Fund during the donation process. Youn may also mail a check or money order to: ICAS Foundation, 750 Miller Drive, Suite F-3, Leesburg, VA 20175. Make your check or money order payable to the ICAS Foundation, and indicate "Kyle and Amanda Fund" in the memo section. You may also donate by credit card call the ICAS Foundation Chairman, Caroline Trinkwalder, at 734-595-0864 or call ICAS headquarters (703-779-8510) with credit card information.

"Thank you for all your help and support in this very hard time."

                                                                                                            Kyle Franklin